Children with autism social skills impairments

Children on the autism spectrum have impairments in social and communication skills these are common indicators of autism.

It is also a common misinterpretation of the common indicators of autism to assume children with an ASD do not want to engage in social interchanges. Children with an ASD do not deliberately alienate themselves from other, rather they lack the appropriate social and communication skills needed to make and maintain friendships.

For children with autism social skills impairments can mean they lack the ability to function in social setting appropriately and can misunderstand situations which can cause stress and anxiety to the child on the spectrum and those around them.

A child on the spectrum will be unable to read facial expression or body language and may not use language appropriately.

For many parents this lack of social and communication skills can become a primary focus. Therefore treatments of autism which can help address impairments in social and communication skills are a paramount importance in many families with an autistic child.

There are various treatments of autism available, however many families with an autistic child use treatments of autism which are “visual”. We do know that the vast majority of autistic children are visual thinkers and learners which means they think in pictures.

Autism social stories are visual intervention strategies, developed around twenty years ago to help aid communication difficulties in ASD children, and since developed into one of the primary treatments of autism, used to develop and encourage social and communication skills and behaviours in ASD children.

Autism social stories are short descriptive pieces of first person text, which follow a specific pattern of sentence type.

Autism social stories for ASD children are visual intervention strategies which use visual images or pictures to show the child on the spectrum “HOW” to perform or manage a skill or situation that they are struggling with; for example hygiene issues, asking questions, controlling anger, making friends and so on.

Acting like a visual plan or role model of the skill or situation in a manner the child on the spectrum can understand. Autism social stories are generally easy to edit and personalize, no two children are ever the same and different terminology is used within families therefore editable autism social stories are more beneficial.

Autism social stories answer the ever important “wh” questions – who, where, why, when and what as well as give an insight into the thoughts and feelings of others which is something autistic children have difficulty with.

The social story will help with transitions, changes to routines, learning new skills and re-enforcing already learnt skills and behaviours. There is no formal training needed to use autism social stories, to find a suitable social story for your child’s needs visit http://www.autismsocialstories.com

This set of autism social stories are short descriptive visual intervention strategies which have are currently used in homes, schools and colleges with excellent success rates. To find out more about this visual intervention strategy and how it can help your child on the spectrum as well as gain downloads of autism social stories for ASD children visit: http://www.autismsocialstories.com